Older workers sometimes face discrimination but the truth is that Singapore can’t do without them.
By 2023, a quarter of Singapore’s resident workforce was aged 55 years or older. Driven by low fertility rates and high life expectancy, this proportion will continue to grow. At the same time, the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) statistics show that our resident workforce in 2023 shrunk year-on-year for the first time since 2007. This reality makes it imperative to address both the challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce.
First, let us consider the question of age discrimination at work.
Such discrimination is not uncommon. Results from MOM’s Fair Employment Practices Survey 2022 indicated that age-related discrimination was the top form of discrimination cited by older jobseekers, and the second most-cited by all employees in 2022. Between 2018 to 2022, TAFEP received an annual average of 77 age-related complaints, making it the second most common type of discrimination complaint, at about 24 per cent.
On NTUC’s part, we partnered the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and Tsao Foundation in 2023 to conduct a “Population Ageing and Slowing Workforce Growth” study. That study surveyed 600 C-suite level executives, hiring managers, and HR managers. Two insights from that study are relevant here.
The first insight was that 52 per cent of the surveyed employers said they would likely hire older workers aged 55 and above. Employers already with older workforces were significantly more likely to hire more workers aged 55 and above (65 per cent) than employers who had no mature workers in their team/organisation (22 per cent).
What do these statistics tell us? I believe they indicate that while age bias exists, half the companies are already open to hiring older workers. This progressive pool of companies will likely grow as the workforce in more companies age and young workers are harder to find.
Therefore, one of the most productive actions to take is to publicise exemplary companies across different sectors which practise Age Inclusive Employment Practices smartly.
Smart age-inclusive practices
Chew’s Agriculture is one such example. The company, which is in the egg farming business, decided to not even have a retirement age. It has consciously chosen to hire and keep workers based on value at work, regardless of age.
Yet, Chew’s Agriculture also faces business competition. It needs to increase productivity. The company decided to upgrade its manual processes to an automated egg grading and packing system, Some 80 workers, aged between 30 and 80 years, with close to 70 per cent of them above the age of 55, were affected. None lost their jobs. Instead, all were reskilled and redeployed to higher-skilled roles such as operating the new machinery and conducting quality control checks.
To make this improvement, the company applied for NTUC’s e2i Company Training Committee (CTC) Grant. It also gave wage increases to all the upgraded workers to share the productivity gain.
Another example is the partnership between the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), SBS Transit and the Land Transport Authority to upskill the company’s technicians. Many of these technicians are older workers. The skills upgrading ensures that they remain valuable to the company as conventional combustion engines give way to hybrid and electric ones.
The Labour Movement has also been working with industry associations to come up with initiatives for win-win outcomes that benefit workers and the industry. For example, NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) and the Creative Media and Publishing Union (CMPU) have worked with the Print and Media Association Singapore (PMAS) and Enterprise Singapore to develop strategies and identify ways to raise the profile of the print and media industry, and to build a sustainable manpower pipeline.
These examples show how companies can achieve good sustainable outcomes for themselves and their workers, regardless of age.
Investing In skills
The second insight from the NTUC-SUSS-Tsao study was that while a majority employers surveyed said training was the most effective way to keep mature workers employable, the most common practice to prolong employment of older workers was through flexible work arrangements.
To derive greatest value from older workers and to enable them to sustain employment, training and skills renewal will be key beyond the short term.
This was borne out by the findings of NTUC’s #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations. Older workers surveyed perceive that their employers prioritised training for and sometimes limit training to younger workers. At the same time, most older workers surveyed are aware that prolonged employment hinges on their skills relevance.
Therefore, ensuring equitable opportunity to train for older workers is a key outcome to pursue, for the good of both older workers and their companies. To help encourage this, NTUC e2i’s Company Training Committee Grant defrays up to 70 per cent of qualifying costs of projects that help workers upskill and reskill in tandem with business transformation.
Progressive workplaces help companies improve capability and sharpen competitiveness. This certainly includes how companies smartly keep, upgrade, and harness the value of their older workers, given the realities of our demography and workforce structure. NTUC and our unions will actively promote, enable, and scale this win-win approach so that our older workers can have value and be valued.
Because Every Worker Matters.
This commentary was first published on The Straits Times on 7 June 2024.
